Letterkenny seeks OK for clean burning of rocket motors

Letterkenny Munitions Center has broken ground for a $32 million project that is to destroy rocket motors more cleanly.

LMC currently burns the motors of tactical missiles in the open air. Rocket motors contain ammonium perchlorate, a chemical known to cause thyroid problems.

The project could be operating within two years and would add a few jobs to the Letterkenny Army Depot tenant.

"We've been working on this since the late 1990s," said Ed Averill, civilian executive assistant at the munitions center. "We looked at several processes. The most simplistic approach was the best."

Army officials and contractors will review the project at a public meeting to be held at 7 p.m. on Feb. 4 in the Great Room of Building 10, the headquarters of Letterkenny Army Depot. The munitions center is seeking approval from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.

The 18- by 118-foot chamber will be constructed of one-inch armored steel on a concrete pad, according to Averill. It's large enough for the center to handle 90 percent of the military's tactical missile motors without noise and without pollution.

A rocket motor will be ignited in the chamber with the gases captured and scrubbed. The remaining metallic salt can be landfilled.

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"We're not sure what to do with it," Averill said. "There may be a market for the aluminum."

LMC nearly two years ago completed an environmental assessment of the project.

The open burning of rocket motors releases a mist of hydrochloric, nitric and sulfuric acids, Averill said.

"We want to reduce the amount we contribute to that problem (of acid rain,)" he said.

Disposing of, using and manufacturing rockets can release perchlorate into the environment, according to the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta.

Perchlorate interferes with the capacity of a person's thyroid gland to take up iodine. The thyroid helps regulate metabolism in adults and helps children develop properly.

The Environmental Protection Agency began regulating perchlorate in 2011 under the Safe Drinking Water Act. Standards have been set for drinking water and the cleanup of soil and groundwater.

"We test for it periodically," Averill said. "We don't have a groundwater problem."

The current open burning ground is located closer to the mountain and about a mile from the chamber site.

"We static-burn the rocket motors," Averill said. "You probably hear them -- a short roar or rushing sound around noon. We're restricted to 20 a day. This (project) takes away that restriction. We'd have the ability to work 24/7 if we had to. We've got enough to keep us busy for 10 years with what's here right now."

LMC could destroy up to 8,000 multiple-launch-rocket-system motors plus 2,000 others in a year. The military is getting rid of 350,000 outdated MLRS rockets. A more accurate guided MLRS has replaced them.

"We have a good bit stored here," Averill said. "It will help us free up storage space."

The chamber could handle motors from the Sidewinder as well as Navy ship-borne guided missiles. It would not handle strategic missile motors such as those powering intercontinental ballistic missiles.

Installation of the chamber could begin in the fall with testing in 2014 and operating by late 2015.

"The first couple of years will be trial-and-error operationally," Averill said. "The concepts are well tested."

A smaller chamber has been tested at China Lake, Calif., Averill said.

On most days about 20 to 25 LMC employees work on the demolition grounds destroying rocket motors, Averill said. Eight to 10 people could be added to the day shift once the chamber is operating, more if the work goes beyond one shift.

When the planned project completed an environmental assessment in 2010, operations were projected to begin after Oct. 1, 2012.

"DEP has been aware of Letterkenny's intent to build the chamber for years, but they did not have the projected emissions data for the proposed operation up until recently," said DEP spokeswoman Lisa Kasianowitz. "The emissions projection is needed for them to get a permit modification on their current air quality permit. Letterkenny can now move forward with developing their proposal because they have obtained the emissions data."

Letterkenny also must modify its hazardous waste treatment permit, which authorizes the open burning and open detonation of munitions, she said.

The Army Corps of Engineers, Huntsville, Ala., is bidding the contract for the chamber.

The project includes building a control room and renovations to a missile disassembly plant.

LMC is authorized for 221 positions, but has just 200 employees because of hiring restrictions affecting the entire Department of the Army, Averill said.

The munitions center makes up the largest part of Letterkenny Army Depot, located north of Chambersburg. The center covers about 16,000 acres. Munitions are stored in 902 earth-covered "igloos." The destruction of rocket motors and unstable ammunition are a small part of the work at the center.

The regional depot for the Northeast, LMC is also the "power projection platform" to supply small arms ammo, artillery shells and tactical missiles to troops in Iran and Afghanistan.

Letterkenny Army Depot and its tenants comprise the single largest employer in Franklin County.